Gram's and Gramp's

My parents arrived in Ottawa on April 25th for a 5 day trip. I used up some Aeroplan points to get them over here as a Christmas gift. The only catch was that they had to find a place to stay, as our place is just way to small. We hooked them up at a beautiful bed and breakfast just a 5 minute walk from our place up by the canal - unfortunately the canal was drained due to annual spring cleaning prior to opening the locks. In fact, the whole city seemed to be one week away from being 'ready'. The leaves were just starting, the road side cleanup had just begun, and the sunny weather started the minute we dropped them off at the airport. Oh well, we knew why they really came to Ottawa, and he spends most of his time indoors.

Thursday turned out to be the nicest day weather-wise, and so dad and I went for 18 at the Edelweiss Golf Club up in Wakefield, Quebec. The course was in relatively decent shape considering it had only opened a week earlier, and for $25 green fees, you can't really lose. You can still see snow on the slopes of the ski resort in the background.

We grabbed some umbrella's on Saturday, and toured around the Parliament buildings, checked out the war memorial, and ended up at Moulin de Provence in the Byward Market for coffee and fancy desserts. Those coffee cups are the same size as bubs' head.

Ethan seems to sport his biggest grins, and is also the most talkative in the mornings. Luckily for my parents, he had just started to engage us with smiling and cooing a few days before they arrived. What a huge difference this development made to us - it's the turning point for when the needy baby starts to give something back. Thanks to Uncle Jerry and Auntie Helen in Calgary for the neat outfit.

Here he's letting us know that the milk was top notch. He didn't even burst the keg this time.

Eau de Fromage

Again...it's been a long time since the last post. Alot has been going on here. We're doing well, and Ethan is growing super fast, but we're definitely finding ourselves short of spare time here lately.

When Ethan was only 3 weeks of age, I had to make a 4 day trip to Hanover. We were a bit nervous about how this would go, given that we were such newbies with raising the bub. Sophie did superbly well though, and I have to admit, that I was the only one calling...she never called me (she says it was because she couldn't get to the phone when she thought about calling).

Somewhere around 14-15 days old, it was as if Ethan "woke up", and seemed to find his voice. No more cute little "wah...wah...wahs", more like long gasps of air (accompanied by the face turning a crimson red), and then windows shattering. Thankfully, this doesn't happen much, but wow, what a difference. It's hard not to get the nerves tangled up when this happens, especially at 3 am.

The milk dud is still gaining an impressive amount of weight. For ahwile, it was around 14 oz. a week. He's now comfortably over 12 lbs, and we've had to pack up most of the 0-3 month clothes already. An interesting side effect to all this milk action, is the eventual accumulation of milk in the folds around his neck. Some days he really smells like cheese, and when it turns from a mild cheddar to a more pungent Roquefort, we know it's bath time for bub.

We went for brunch at a Cabane a Sucre - Stanley's Olde Maple farm - with our friend Ryan and his daughter Caitlyn. The syrup was frozen in the buckets, but it was flowing on the table for the pancakes and waffles. Soph was in her glory! Both Ethan and Caitlyn enjoyed the animal barn; Ethan more for the overwhelming smells, Caitlyn for the horses.

Later in the day we were invited out for Easter supper at Sophie's great uncle and aunt's - Joe and Vals. They have a beautiful home which sits on the shore of a very wide expanse of the Ottawa River in Aylmer, Quebec. They were so excited to see us, and put on a huge spread for the evening.

Cathy mailed us this awesome little snuggly, which works like a charm for getting us out of the house, and getting Ethan to fall asleep. There are times we'd like to get outdoors for walking, but Ethan detests being put in the stroller (it's essentially his car seat - but we don't buckle him in tightly), so this snuggly does the job. It was a bit tricky to put on at first, and because we didn't have jackets big enough to enclose him, we had to wrap a blanket around him, which used up our hands. The warmer weather, and the fact that his neck is more stable now has helped alot though.

Ethan was born with the expected blonde hair and blue eyes that everyone was predicting, although you wouldn't be able to see it easily anymore. After one of his baths at around 2 weeks, a little towelling off managed to completely shave the top of his head, so now bubs has a "male pattern baldness" look going in - nothing on the top, and a bit of hair going from one ear, around the back, and to the other ear. If this keeps up, we'll have to consider a comb-over (actually, it's coming back nicely).

Some more cool gifts from friends. Ethan sporting a fantastic knit wool touque from Heather in Vancouver. I love the two little pom-pom antennae at the top. We find ourselves spending alot of time just laughing at him when he's got this hat on. He's also got on a cool little onesie with rocket ships and stars all over it, given to us by fellow Space systems colleague Ryan, and his daughter Caitlyn.

There are a whole bunch of other outfits that have been arriving lately from friends and family, and luckily for us, much of it is for 18 months plus. We'll have to get bub to put on a fashion show on the blog when he starts growing into them.